How to Withstand in the Storms of Life
How do you act when unexpected circumstances arise? Are you calm and confident or do you fearful and panic? A confident response is originated from a calm and clean heart. Isaiah 30:15 says, “In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.” The word for quietness in Hebrew means “repose.” And repose means calm, relaxed, free from all anxiety; to be still, to lie down with support underneath. Everyone wants peacefulness, guidance, solutions, something to calm their spirit. Yet they seek it in every source except the Lord. Hebrews 12:14 says “Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.”
God has already spoken a word of caution, through Isaiah: If they don’t turn to him as their source, their striving will end in sorrow and confusion. Isaiah further explains how to attain peace: “The work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance forever” (Isaiah 32:17). Righteousness is a gift of God's grace that comes through a personal relationship by faith in Christ. It comes to those to whom Jesus says, "“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." (Matthew 7:21). And Jesus' teaching about this vital relationship is one of the things that is implied in Jesus' words "Therefore . . . whoever hears these sayings of Mine . . ." If we’re truly walking in righteousness, our lives will bear the fruit of a calm spirit, quietness of heart and peace with God. "A right relationship with God brings quietness and confidence comes from the Lord, from trusting in Him and believing in His promises. John 14:27 Jesus promised “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
When you think about storms in your life you don't think about cyclone or tornado. You probably think about a complicated or broken relationship, financial crisis, legal problems, health problems, sickness or death of someone you love, rebellious people, public disgrace of reputation, Job crisis and a conflict etc, sometime in our lives we are all going to face these kinds of storms. It is true that there are only two kinds of people in the world: those who are going through a crisis and those who are going to go through a crisis.
Let us glance through a parable of Jesus which gives us great insight into Withstand the Storms of Life. We look at Matthew 7:24-27. Jesus said “So everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts upon them [obeying them] will be like a sensible (prudent, practical, wise) man who built his house upon the rock. And the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not do them will be like a stupid (foolish) man who built his house upon the sand. And the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against that house and it fell and great and complete was the fall of it.”
This passage comes at the end of what we know as the Sermon on the Mount in order to benefit from his wisdom, we must be like the man who built his house on the rock rather than the one who built their house on the sand. There are few vital truths we should learn from this parable.
The house represents our lives-
The illustration is of houses built on two very different foundations.
The Wise & the Foolish-signify- that Obedience is Wise; Disobedience is Foolish.
The rain, floods & the Winds –correspond to - unexpected situation, problems or crisis we face in life.
The Rock and the Sand illustrates-two foundation - God’s ways and Man’s ways.
There are only two choices in building our lives; either you build on a solid foundation or you build on a shallow& weak foundation.
Obedience is built upon a Solid Foundation; Disobedience is built upon a Shifting Foundation.
Imagine everything you have worked for being swept away in a moment. That is the picture of a life of disobedience.
Importance of genuine obedience and the folly of disobedience
Jesus' analogy is meant to illustrate two kinds of people with respect to His teaching. The wise man builds his house on a foundation of rock and the foolish man builds on a foundation of sand. Now the two men are similar in that they both hear, they both exercise free will, and both are accountable for their choices. Both men heard Jesus' words; and on a superficial level, the differences between them couldn't be readily seen. But on closer examination, one man heard what Jesus said, and then did what Jesus said; while the other man heard what Jesus said, and didn't do what Jesus said. Both men acted from out of their own will based on what they heard; but one chose to take action, and the other chose not to. The man who did what Jesus said had built his life on a good, solid foundation; while the other had built his life on that which wouldn't endure.
Every one of us is building a "LIFE" There are only two choices: you either build on a solid and deep foundation or you build on a shallow and weak foundation. In the same chapter verses 13 & 14 Jesus tells us that there are two gates: a broad way and a broad gate and a narrow road leading to a narrow gate. The broad way leads to destruction and the narrow way leads to life. You are on one road or the other. In verses 15-20 Jesus tells us that there are only two kinds of trees: there are trees that bear good fruit and trees that bear bad fruit. The bad trees bear bad fruit; the good trees bear good fruit. You are either one or the other.
And now Jesus tells us that there are two foundations: one that will withstand the storms and one that will not. The picture is clear. You are walking God's way, experiencing His transformation in your life, and knowing His strength for difficult times; or you are walking away from God, producing nothing of eternal value and are vulnerable to the storms that may come your way.
We must build our life on the strong foundation
Jesus said, He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. (Luke 6:48)
Who wants to dig down deep if you don't have to? It takes more work to build on the rock. It takes more time and energy. And it costs more. It is easier and faster to build on the sand.
It is easier to take shortcuts in building a home. It is cheaper to use lesser materials. And for awhile, no one may notice. But somewhere along the line, you will pay for your shoddy workmanship.
It is easier to cheat. It is quicker to simply memorize a list of answers. And your grades will look just as good on a job application or an application to college. But someday you will asked to express an intelligent thought on your own, and your laziness will be exposed.
The same is true for your spiritual life. It is easier to go with the crowd. It takes less time and energy if you simply maintain a superficial faith. And frankly, most of the time, who can really tell the difference anyway? It's easier to just show up for religious rituals for an hour a week than it is to develop spiritual roots. It is easier to talk about caring for others than it is to actually care. It is easier to talk about sharing your faith than it is to build bridges with others. It is easier to talk about commitment than to be committed.
The problem with people on the sand is that they do not see beyond the present. They give no thought to what is ahead. They live for the moment and whatever needs to be done to get what they want right now . . . is what they choose to do. These people do not give any thought to preparing for difficult times. Do you know what many people do when it starts raining? They try to repair and renovate without right foundation. When the sky gets dark, the winds pick up, and the rain begins to pour they run for Help to build a new foundation. But you can’t change foundations when you’re in the midst of a storm. You have to lay your foundation before the storm comes, so that when the rain fell, the floods, and the winds come, your house is secure. This is also true in the natural realm. It is hard to lay a foundation when it’s raining.
In the spiritual realm many people are short-sighted as well. Their focus is all on the temporal world. They don't do anything to protect their health. They don't build relationships while there is time. They don't consider the consequences of their moral choices. They live for the moment and are unprepared for difficult times that may be ahead. They give no thought to eternity. They invest no time or energy in developing roots or in laying up treasures in Heaven. They believe they have lots of time to deal with eternal matters. They fail to see that being prepared for eternity and having a solid relationship with God, makes it possible to enjoy the present life more. When the storms blow they don't understand why God seems far away.
They really believe that these kinds of things will never happen to them. They believe they will never have to deal with a crisis, or a tragedy, or loss, or financial stress. They are naive. They don't understand that in the next moment life could change drastically. A car accident, a fire, a tornado, an unexpected pregnancy, a job layoff, a physical problem (heart attack, stroke, or some other problem) could come into our life at any time. These things may effect us or they may strike someone we love. We seldom see these things coming. But when they do, life is turned upside down. Life may be good for us right now, but that could change in an instant.
Obedience is the key
This parable gives every indication that before the rain fell, floods came and the winds blew these two houses looked identical. They may have both been attractive, spacious, and comfortable. On the surface you couldn't really tell which house was built on the sand and which was anchored deep to the rock. It was only when the storms hit that you could see the difference in the homes.
So it will be with those around us. It is impossible for us to tell who is genuine in their faith and who is not until the time of trial comes. True faith reveals when we are called to trust Him in the dark. When a person faces loss, or disappointment, or things simply don't go as expected, we get to see what their faith is really made of. The person who has a deep foundation,
• Trusts God's wisdom when life is confusing
• Relies on God's strength when they are weak
• Looks beyond the present problems to God's purpose and eternal glory
• Relies on God’s grace in times of personal failure
It is easy to profess faith when life is good, it is more difficult to believe when you stand at the grave of one you love. That is the time when you must ask a tough question: "Do I really believe, or don't I?"
Jesus said anyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like the wise man. The first step is to hear. Which also means we must listen? Practically, I think this means several things.
1. we must Know the truth
First, it means we have a responsibility to expose ourselves to the truth. Knowing the Truth and holding on to it keeps us clean and healthy. Staying in God’s Word and keeping it lets us walk in victory. Trusting in the Lord keeps us from receiving the evil one’s nastiness. Jesus prayed in John 17:17 “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.” God's revealed truth, as the medium or element of sanctification; many people simply won't read the Bible. They will often say that it's because it isn't interesting to them; and yet this can't be the case, because they will gladly give themselves over to a multitude of other things that are far less interesting that words spoken to them by the God of the universe! Or other people will say that they don't read the Bible because it's too hard to understand; and yet this can't be true either, because the same people will spend many hours studying complicated tax information or instruction manuals on how to operate sophisticated computer software. Some folks say, "I can't read the Bible, because I just don't have time"; and yet, they have lots of time for other things in their lives that are far less important.
2. we must Listen carefully the truth
Second, it means to listen carefully. It is not enough to just hear. We must listen. There is a difference between hearing and listening. The key to listening is to interact with the one doing the speaking. The best listeners I know are people who ask lots of clarifying questions. In other words they ask, "What do you mean?" "Are you saying . . . . ", "Can you explain that further?" "What happened next?" These are questions that show a person is listening. We should ask clarifying questions when interacting with the truth of God. This is true in every other area of your life. If you want to learn something you have to be in places where you can get the necessary information. An athlete listens to coaches and more experienced players. A Craftsman becomes an apprentice to learn from those who are more experienced. You have to expose yourself to the truth if you want to grow. And the same holds true in our spiritual lives.
3. We Must Act on the Truth
Thirdly, we should notice how these words "Therefore . . . whoever hears these sayings of Mine . . ." shows us that an unavoidable obligation is involved. This is because He goes on to say, ". . . Whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them . . ."
One of the reason people who know that they should read heir Bible won't do so is because it's too dangerous a thing to read. It's dangerous because it is like a mirror exposes their real life and demands that you do something about what you have read. You have to obey it and apply it to your life. The truth presented to us in God's word is not meant to simply "read". It must be "put into practice" and "acted upon". The apostle John said, "If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth" (1 John 1:6). It's meant to be "practiced". John said, "He who says, 'I know Him,' and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him" (2:4). The apostle James said,
“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does” (James 1:22-25).
We Must Act on the Truth. It is not enough to KNOW about God. It is not enough to now what God wants you to do. It is not enough to know His word . . . . If we are going to build on a solid foundation we must actually DO what God wants us to do.
4.We Must abide in and practice the Truth
The reality we must face is this: there are many people who are very knowledgeable about the faith and doctrine, but who are building on sand. There are many people who look good, talk good, and appear wonderfully religious, but are really building their foundation on the sand. They know the truth; they know how to appear religious . . . . But they are not consistently doing what God tells them to do. To some degree all of us are like this. Every one of us has areas of our life where we are not applying the truth constantly. We know what God wants us to do, but we just don't do it continually. However, the true believer is working to eliminate those areas from their life. They know that those areas of their life are robbing them of spiritual vitality and are weakening their foundation. The foolish builder is unconcerned about these things.
The key principle
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. In him was life; and the life was the light of men.”(John 1:1, 4)
“It is the Spirit Who gives life [He is the Life-giver]; the flesh conveys no benefit whatever [there is no profit in it]. The words (truths) that I have been speaking to you are spirit and life.” (John 6:63AMP)
“Jesus said to the people who believed in him, "You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings.” (John 8:31)
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6)
“Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.” (John 15:4)
“If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”(John 15:7)
“Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” (John 17:3)
The parable of the two houses is a simple parable that teaches: If you build your foundation solidly on the Lord and His word, you will be able to survive anything. History is filled with the story of martyrs who remained faithful in horrendous situations. And you and I have watched some who have survived horrible ordeals because of their faith. They survived because of their faith. We've even seen people who faced death with courage, grace, and confidence.
We will survive in the storms of life if we build on the right foundation because; our strength will not come from us, but from the Lord. We will not trust our wisdom, but from His
Our focus will not be on present struggle but on our future hope. We will know where to turn, who to trust, and what is really important. Maybe you are in a storm right now. Maybe you are in the process of discovering that your foundation is faulty. Friend, please turn to the Lord. You need to immerse yourself in God's Word. You need to place your confidence in His love for you and His work on your behalf. God is merciful and faithful.
God permits the trials of life to come into the believer's life in order to prove the genuineness of the foundation. Peter says that we are to greatly rejoice in our hope in Christ; "though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:6-7). The world looks on, and sees the difference. And we can look, and see the difference too.
The concluding thoughts
The results are truly dramatic. When the trials of rain, flood waters and wind strike against the house that is built on sand, the house falls. Jesus says, "And great was its fall"; meaning a terrible crash; a complete downfall; a total and final ruin.
Great and ruinous is the fall of the house NOT built on God! This is not only true during the time of trial; but it's true in an ultimate sense! That's a horrible thing to think about. But let's not forget to think about the other house. It stands. The trials of rain, flood and wind did not bring it down; because it was built on the solid rock. And what's more, it stands on the day of judgment!
One man is wise; and the other is a fool. And the only difference between them is that one heard the words of Jesus and did them, and the other heard the same words and didn't do them.
Your foundation will be tested. There are three ways: (1) It will be tested in the time of trial; (2) It will be tested on the day of judgment; and (3) It can be tested right now by your own self-examination. Did you know that the Bible calls you to test yourself now? Paul says, "Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? - unless indeed you are disqualified" (2 Corinthians 13:5). Those are hard words, to be sure. But I know some even harder ones - when Jesus says, "I never knew you. Depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!" (Matthew 7:23).
So, ask yourself now - when you still have the chance to do so: "What is my foundation? Upon what is my life built? Is my trust in the Lord? Is that my vital trust right now and in an ongoing way? Is He my 'cornerstone'? When I pick up my Bible and read what it says to do, do I faithfully do it? Perhaps I fail at times; but then, do I get right back up and go forward again in obedience - with trust in His forgiveness and help? Do I find Christ - His Person, His commandments, His promises - to be my mainstay in times of trial? Do trials cause me to fall
In the midst of a heartbreaking trial, God clearly gave me the verse from Psalm 46: "Be still and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10). As I meditated on this verse, I saw that "be still" could be translated "cease striving" or "let go, relax." How is your foundation? Is it built upon the rock or is it built upon sand? If it’s built upon the rock, keep on. Continue doing what you’re doing. Seek to stretch yourself further in God’s Word. Pray that He gives you an even greater hunger and thirst for His Word. If your foundation is built upon sand and you know you’re sinking down, build your foundation on the rock of God’s Word. Today, I invite you to do a building inspection of your life. If you want a stable life—one that doesn’t cave in when the rain comes—build it on the rock TODAY
